Football Shows Progress In The Spring

Apr 21, 2010

BUENA VISTA, Va. The Southern Virginia Football team recently
wrapped up its spring practice term, as they faced off against
Radford Club in a spring scrimmage. Practice for the Knights
started on Monday, March 22 and concluded on April 17th with a
game-length scrimmage.

SVU coaches saw tremendous progress from all the players, as
they look to take last season's ending momentum into 2010. Head
Coach, Delane Fitzgerald commented, “ Some of our players
have come a long way from where they were last fall. Not just our
rising sophomores, but our rising juniors and seniors have also
showed great progress. We are throwing, catching, blocking,
running, and tackling better than we ever did last fall, and when
you do these things better, your team is going to be better.
”

On the offensive side of the ball, the growth of three
players in particular, Austin Phillips, Brandon Ostler, and Stephen
Jensen, has stood out. Phillips, a wide receiver who saw limited
playing time last year as a freshman, has emerged as a legitimate
scoring threat. Phillips made several big plays in inter-squad
scrimmages, including a 60-yard touchdown reception. In
Saturday’s scrimmage, Ostler rushed for just under 200 yards
and recorded 3 touchdowns. Another bright spot from
Saturday’s scrimmage was Dewayne Beamon, the newest member of
the SVU football program finished Saturday with over 100 yards
receiving and 2 touchdowns.

Part of Ostler’s and Beamon’s success can be
attributed to newcomer Stephen Jensen. Coaches asked Jensen, who
just recently returned from an LDS mission, to make the difficult
position change from guard to center. Jensen responded well to the
challenge and improved daily.

Several players on defense have also made significant
strides. Robbie Williams, a rising sophomore, has made
arguably the most progress of any player on the team. Two other
rising sophomores have become impact players on defense. Clark
Steele, who was named first team all-conference last year, is
successfully making the transition from defensive end to outside
line backer. And Luke Herndon, a defensive lineman, has put
constant pressure on the offense this spring. Herndon is emerging
as one of the team leaders on defense.

Upperclassmen Ryan Chapman, Tommy Davidson, Brett Kassel,
and Josh Hodges have shown constant improvement on defense. Kassel
and Hodges played consistently well all spring, and in the
scrimmage, Chapman snagged two interceptions, one of which he
returned for a touchdown. All three provide leadership to a
defensive unit that coaches describe as more intense and active
than previous teams. On offense, junior Ryan McGinn has established
himself as an invaluable player who contributes in many different
ways from the H-Back position. In Saturday’s scrimmage,
McGinn laid key blocks that sprung Ostler into the open field; he
also kept drives alive with his ability to catch and run the
football.

SVU coaches all agreed that the team made great strides in the
spring, and has shown great improvement heading into the summer
off-season. Fitzgerald felt that the spring session could be a very
promising indicator of the progress of the program, and that
Southern Virginia football fans had a lot to be optimistic about
heading towards the first game of the season on Aug. 26 against
Concord.